Mines takes highest state ranking on U.S. News and World Report's annual best colleges list

By: Steve Thursday September 13, 2012 Tags: CSU, CU-Boulder, Golden

GOLDEN - Colorado's three biggest schools of higher education ranked high on U.S. News and World Report's annual listing of the best public universities in America, with the Colorado School of Mines in Golden capturing the highest ranking in the state at No. 32.

CU-Boulder ranked No. 42 on the best public universities list, with Colorado State University in Fort Collins coming in at No. 67.

When ranked with all universities in the nation - both public and private - Mines earned the No. 77 spot followed by CU-Boulder at No. 97 and CSU at No. 134.

U.S. News and World Report annually assesses 1,500 of the nation's four-year colleges and universities on academic peer assessment, graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources and alumni giving.

On the combined public-and-private universities list, the top 11 schools (all private institutions) were:

• No. 1-- Harvard and Princeton universities, tied


• No. 3--Yale University


• No. 4--Columbia University and University of Chicago, tied


• No. 6--Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University, tied


• No. 8--Duke University and University of Pennsylvania, tied


• No. 10--California Institute of Technology and Dartmouth College, tied

The top public university on the combined list was the University of California-Berkeley at No. 21.

All the rankings are posted at http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges.